Mozilla’s big plans for mobile Firefox may be too little, too late

Mozilla has announced new plans to deliver a strong mobile web browser. When …

Mozilla's Firefox web browser has steadily increased in popularity on the desktop, but those market share gains haven't translated over into the mobile space despite increasing interest in mobile open-source software solutions. In an announcement on his blog, developer Mike Schroepfer has revealed Mozilla's plans to revitalize its mobile development efforts.

Mozilla's plans include making mobile devices a first-tier platform, shipping a version of Firefox designed for mobile devices that also supports extensions and XUL application development, and expanding the team of full-time mobile Firefox developers. The problem for Mozilla is that there are already some entrenched players in the mobile space, and dislodging them is bound to be difficult.

Schroepfer cites several key factors that contributed to bringing about this new emphasis on mobile development: the growing ubiquity of personal mobile devices, the increasing power of mobile hardware, and certain upcoming architectural improvements that make mobile development more feasible. "Up until very recently device limitations required writing new mobile browsers from the ground up. Being able to leverage all the investments in the Mozilla platform across both desktops and devices is the right approach," writes Schroepfer. "People ask us all the time about what Mozilla's going to do about the mobile web, and I'm very excited to announce that we plan to rock it."

For Firefox 3, the Mozilla developers have invested considerable energy in overhauling Gecko, the underlying rendering toolkit used by the web browser. The newly improved Gecko 1.9, which will be included in Firefox 3, resolves a number of significant long-standing issues. With those problem solved and out of the way, the developers will be able to look to the future and start working on other things, like mobile development.

The Firefox user interface is built with a unique XML-based interface design framework called XUL, which provides a high level of platform portability but is also very resource-intensive. The overhead of XUL is one particularly significant factor that diminishes Firefox's viability in a mobile setting.

There are currently several existing efforts aimed at providing mobile Mozilla browser. For instance, there is a nice Gecko-based renderer for the Nokia's N800 web browser. Intel is also working on a Firefox-based web browser for its MID open-source device platform. According to Schroepfer, Mozilla's Minimo project—which aimed to provide a mobile Gecko-based browser for GPE and Windows Mobile devices—will be discontinued.

Mozilla's decision to revitalize mobile development comes at a critical time for open-source mobile development. New Linux-based mobile devices are emerging at an unprecedented rate, and other major open-source projects like GNOME are focusing greater effort on mobile development as well.

If Mozilla can bring the quality and flexibility of the Firefox desktop experience to the mobile platform without having to sacrifice distinctive features like add-on support, it will be a huge win for open-source mobile web browsing. This will not be an easy task, and strong competition in the mobile space already exists from WebKit and Opera—and even Internet Explorer.